


Twenty Hours

by plutosrose



Series: Bucky Barnes Bingo 2020 [18]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Blankets, Bucky Barnes Recovering, Cuddling & Snuggling, Established Relationship, M/M, Memory Issues, Sleepovers, Stuffed Toys, some separation anxiety
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:01:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27634483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plutosrose/pseuds/plutosrose
Summary: For the first time since Bucky's arrived at the Tower, Steve leaves for a mission. Bucky tries to cope.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Natasha Romanov, James "Bucky" Barnes & Sam Wilson, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Series: Bucky Barnes Bingo 2020 [18]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1882291
Comments: 12
Kudos: 91
Collections: Bucky Barnes Bingo 2020





	Twenty Hours

Bucky had been living in the Tower since before he’d remembered his own name. Steve had been pretty insistent on letting him have his own space on his floor, so that was where he lived, with a rotating staff of doctors and therapists coming up to Captain America’s floor because there was no way that Steve was going to let Bucky out of his sight. 

He got used to Steve blocking people from setting foot on their floor with his biceps and saying things like, “What are you here for? What’s your name? Who do you work for?” 

And although sometimes Steve ended up saying these things to Sam or Natasha just in case they happened to be an imposter disguised as Sam or Natasha, Bucky couldn’t deny the fact that he felt much more comfortable on Steve’s floor where both JARVIS and Steve could screen visitors than he had since well, since he’d started remembering that he was a person again.

He had the space to do things at his own pace, and he was grateful for that. 

That was, until months after he’d started living at the Tower, Steve left for a mission--something something reconnaissance, something something back in three days, and Bucky had clung to his side until he had to board the quinjet. Of course, Steve hadn’t done a single thing to try and dislodge him, either, he’d just walked calmly to the boarding area with Bucky wrapped up in blankets in his arms until he absolutely had to put him down. 

“I promise I will be back soon,” he said, pressing a kiss to his forehead, which was just about the only part of him that was visible underneath all of the blankets. 

Bucky grumbled, drawing the blankets tighter around himself. 

“I left instructions on how to find all of your favorite cat videos on the fridge.” 

Steve smiled warmly at him, and wrapped him in his arms, holding him tightly. “Promise, only three days.” 

“The last time that you made that kind of promise,” Bucky began, before Steve drew back to look him in the eye. He looked equal parts amused and sad. 

“There’s no war this time,” Steve said softly, pressing his lips against Bucky’s forehead a second time. “Promise. You probably wouldn’t even notice that I’m gone.”

-

Well that was the biggest understatement of the year.

The moment that Bucky returned to their floor, he decided that it was quiet. Far too quiet. The kind of quiet that made him feel like his consciousness had expanded to occupy the entire apartment, the kind that made him feel like he had a desperate need to crawl out of his skin. 

He padded into their bedroom and grabbed the Bucky Bear out of the closet (a sort of get-well-soon present from Steve that, according to Sam, Steve had spent a small fortune on), and held it close to his chest, enveloping it in the blankets before he decided that he was going to have to find somewhere else to spend the time Steve was away. 

-

“What are you working on?” 

Tony dropped the wrench that he was holding on the table. “Damnit Barnes, don’t sneak up on me like that.” 

Bucky’s gaze drifted over to the myriad of tools that were laid out on the table, before he took a step back, looking at the entire room with wide eyes.

There had been a time when he’d been afraid to go anywhere near Tony’s lab, but now he was fascinated by it. It was passing Tony’s lab that he’d first remembered going to the Stark Expo, a blonde and brunette on his arm, and Steve valiantly attempting to pretend that he was having a good time.

He’d always been kind of a bad liar, Bucky thought to himself, a small smile on his face. 

Tony blinked at him. “I am working with highly volatile equipment here that could injure someone that’s not trained to work with it, which I’m sure that Steve wouldn’t appreciate very much.” 

As Tony was hustling him out the door, he reached out and poked a disembodied robot arm that immediately whirred to life and shot a laser straight across the room. “Damnit Barnes!” Tony grumbled, rushing away from him as Bucky chuckled to himself.

-

Natasha had her bright red hair pulled back into a high-ponytail, and she was aiming high kicks at an imaginary opponent. 

When Bucky appeared behind her, she took a deep breath and looked him up and down. “Steve gone, huh?” 

Bucky nodded. 

“Do you want to watch me go through the rest of my set?”

Bucky nodded again.

So for the next hour, Bucky watched Natasha aiming a series of intricate punches and kicks at nothing, working on spiraling jumps that were slightly mesmerizing. 

When she was done, she grabbed the towel that she’d set off to the side of the mat and took a long drink from her water bottle. She looked at Bucky for a long time--she always seemed to understand what he was thinking without him needing to say anything, sometimes better than Steve did. 

“I’m going to call Sam,” she said finally, giving Bucky a small smile. “Let’s go back upstairs.” 

-

His memories were still sometimes fragmented--sometimes he had days where he remembered very little, sometimes he had days where he remembered a lot--synapses firing randomly, filling his mind with random images and sounds that he had no context for. 

But most every day, he could remember the broad and basic outline of his life. He had, occasionally, wondered if it was ridiculous for him, a grown man who had lived more years than most ever got, who had worked in factories since his early teens, and been to war--to spend his days curled up in blankets, watching cat videos, and with a stuffed toy to keep him company.

That was, however, until Steve gave him A Look and said, “You’re thinking too much. If those things make you happy, then they make you happy.” 

And Steve would know, because he was always willing to satisfy even the smallest, most ridiculous desires that he had, even if it was three in the morning when Bucky told him. 

-

Natasha had come back up to the floor with him, and had put a movie on--but it wasn’t long before he had drifted off to sleep, curled up in his blankets. Having Natasha there with him made him feel relaxed and safe. He slept a lot these days, but that was another one of those ‘it’s okay to do it’ things, as far as he understood.

He didn’t have anywhere he needed to be but right there.

-

He could hear voices before he woke up completely–it took him a second to figure out that they were Sam and Natasha. It was a good sign, he thought. He hadn’t slept well for weeks after Steve’d taken him to the Tower, and now, he was actually sleeping and not just dipping below the surface of unconsciousness.

“Hey Sam,” he murmured, and Sam shrieked and stumbled backward.

“Shh, I think you woke him up,” Natasha reached over to rub his back.

“I thought he was a pile of blankets until two seconds ago,” Sam countered, huffing indignantly. 

“Why is Sam here?” Bucky asked.

“Sleepover,” Natasha smiled, at the same time that Sam said, “Blackmailed by Nat.”

“I thought we could watch some movies. Have pizza. Make some popcorn.”

“Steve puts caramel on top.”

“That’s why Sam went to four stores before he got here,” Sam grumbled, duffel bag slung across his shoulder, holding up the shopping bag and pizza box that he’d brought with him. 

Bucky smiled and snuggled into Natasha’s side. “Good.”

-

He didn’t make it very far into the movie--he’d picked Back to the Future, which made Sam grumble (“I’ve literally seen this like fifteen times here,” he’d told Nat when he’d thought Bucky was sleeping.), but if he was actually mad, he didn’t show it. He’d tucked him in properly on the couch and fed him popcorn when he asked for it. 

When he woke up, the light on the television had gone dark, and Natasha and Sam were curled up together on the floor, sharing one of the few blankets that Bucky had not claimed for himself.

Bucky blinked the sleep away from his eyes and readjusted his hold on his bear when he heard the door click open.

Instantly, both Sam and Natasha got to their feet, ready for a fight. Except it wasn’t a Hydra operative who came through the front door–it was Steve, a whole fifty-two hours early.

“Mission didn’t take as long as I thought it would,” he said sheepishly, still wearing the damn stealth suit like he’d run here straight from the quinjet, before he wrapped his arms around Bucky. “I’m sorry I was gone.”

“It was okay,” Bucky murmured into his shoulder, “Nat and Sam were here.” 

“I’m glad you weren’t alone,” Steve said, before he carefully moved Bucky’s blankets aside so that he could plant a kiss firmly on his lips. 

“You know, you could have called first,” Sam said weakly, before glancing at Natasha and then looking between Steve and Bucky, who barely seemed to notice that either of them were there anymore. “We should go, right?”

“Yeah,” Natasha nodded, as Steve and Bucky continued to kiss, open-mouthed and panting. “We should.”

Sam grabbed his duffel bag from where he’d stashed it by the couch and grabbed Natasha by the hand. “As always Steve, good to see you,” he said as he closed the door behind them.


End file.
